%0 Journal Article
%T Gang Influence: Mediating the Gang¨CDelinquency Relationship With Proactive Criminal Thinking
%A Glenn D. Walters
%J Criminal Justice and Behavior
%@ 1552-3594
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0093854819831741
%X Controlling for basic demographic variables, parental knowledge, prosocial peer associations, and precursor measures of each outcome, the current study sought to compare two putative intervening mechanisms for the gang affiliation¨Cparticipant delinquency relationship: a social learning mechanism (proactive criminal thinking) and a self-control mechanism (reactive criminal thinking). The two mechanisms were explored in 3,136 (1,519 male, 1,612 female) early adolescents (mean age = 12.14 years) from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) study. A three-wave path analysis of Waves 1 to 3 of the G.R.E.A.T. study revealed a significant social learning pathway (gang affiliation ¡ú proactive criminal thinking ¡ú delinquency) and a nonsignificant self-control pathway (gang affiliation ¡ú reactive criminal thinking ¡ú delinquency). These findings were then replicated using data from Waves 4 to 6. From these results, it is concluded that gang affiliation may increase future delinquency by providing youth with increased opportunities to learn proactive criminal thinking
%K social learning theory
%K proactive criminal thinking
%K reactive criminal thinking
%K youth gangs
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0093854819831741